English 251: American Lit. (1600-1865)

Assignment 1:
JOHN SMITH & JOHN WINTHROP

Well before the settling of Virginia and Massachusetts in 1607 and 1620, Europeans knew the Americas through various written accounts. Thus they came to the New World with numerous preconceptions about the land, its inhabitants, flora and fauna, and climate. They arrived, also, with readymade justifications for their colonial endeavor. In one of the most popular of the English accounts, for example, Samuel Purchas argued (in 1613, working from 1588 accounts by John Hakluyt) that Divine Providence had made it "lawfull for Christians, to usurpe the goodes and lands of Heathens" and to "make Christians of those Savage, wild, degenerate men."

Purchas, like countless others, regarded the New World from two perspectives, one religious, the other secular. From a religious vantage point America was the "new Canaan," a promised land where the destiny of God's chosen people would be manifested. From a secular vantage, America was truly "Virginia," a beauteous and unfurrowed landscape gendered feminine and ripe for the seeds of European culture. Here is Purchas:

...looke upon Virginia; view her lovely lookes (howsoever like a modest Virgin she is now vailed with wild Coverts and shadie Woods, expecting rather ravishment then Mariage from her Native Savages) survay her Heavens, Elements, Situation ... she is worth the wooing and loves of the best Husband.

Clearly, Purchas regards "her" submission to the Native American as unjust, because it is a "ravishment" or illegitimate rape, rather than the true "Mariage" promised by European civilization--"the best Husband."

Such explanations, which achieved the status of myths about the New World, were pervasive during the 17th Century. You will notice traces of them in these selections by Smith (1624) and Winthrop (1630). Yet Smith and Winthrop were also concerned with the realities of their adventure, and most of all the difficulty of keeping their small bands of colonists together in a strange wilderness. Reading these selections, pay particular attention to how the writers suggest that unity was possible.

Smith's General History of 1624 expanded and revised an earlier account he wrote in 1608, titled A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Noate as Hath Happned in Virginia, detailing the colonists' first year abroad, in particular their encounters with the "savages" there. Interestingly, the familiar story of Smith's near escape from death, because of the last-minute intervention of Pocahontas, never appears in the 1608 version. Scholars still don't know why. Speculation centers on the fact that 1623 brought bloody, near fatal skirmishes with the tribes formerly under Powhatan; and when Smith revised his account, in 1624, he certainly wrote it with a recollection of the Indians' treachery (in his view), perhaps also with a view towards justifying the colonists' violent counterattacks. As you read, think about how that conflict points up the need for unity of purpose and social organization.

By contrast, Winthrop's sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," was delivered in the middle of his group's Atlantic crossing, in 1630, amidst heavy seas, aboard the Arbelia, flagship of the four-vessel contingent of Massachusetts Bay Company settlers. Nevertheless this sermon, with its admonitions against the dangers of selfishness and factionalism, and its reminders about their providential mission, remains a classic instance of how English Puritans would understand through symbolic means the realities of their adventure. Arranged in the orderly, point-by-point method common to the sermonic form, and plentifully salted with scriptural allusions, Winthrop's text drives to its great, concluding idea. He ends with an image from Matthew 5.14-15, of the divine "city upon a hill" or New Jerusalem (p. 225).

Winthrop reminds his fellow adventurers that "the eyes of all people" turn toward that city, in anxious anticipation of its success, because within it resides the hope of the Millenium promised in Revelations. As you read Winthrop, then, imagine yourself a member of his congregation, on a storm-tossed Atlantic sea; think about how he uses this idea of a Millenialist mission to unify his group of settlers.

Reading Assignment

John Smith, The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (pp. 102-114).
John Winthrop, "A Model of Christian Charity" (pp. 214-225).

Writing Assignment

From Smith's account, what European goods--such as foodstuffs and weapons--do the colonists bring to America? In turn, what do the Native Americans teach them to eat and use?
According to Smith, what are the main mistakes that the Virginia colonists made? For example, mistakes about provisions, self-defense, and self-governance.
Sometimes Smith refers to himself in the first person plural, "we," other times in the third person, as "he" or "Smith." What is the pattern of that alternate usage? Describe and define that pattern, and suggest a reason or two for Smith's use of it.
Read the following narration of Smith's encounter with Powhatan, from his 1608 account, A True Relation:

Arriving at Weramocomoco I found their Emperour proudly lying upon a Bedstead about a foote high, upon ten or twelve Mats, richly hung with many Chains of great pearls aboaut his neck, and covered with a great covering of Racoons. At his head sat a woman, at his feet, another; on each side sitting upon a Mat upon the ground, were ranged his chief men on each side the fire, ten in a rank, and behind them as many young women, each with a great Chain of white Beads over their shoulders, their heads painted in red: and Powhatan with a grave and Majestical countenance, as drove me to admiration to see such a state in a naked Savage.

He kindly welcomed me with good words, and great Platters of sundry Victuals, assuring me of his friendship, and my liberty within four days.... After good deliberation he began to rest [and] desired me to forsake Paspahegh [the Jamestown settlement] and to live with him upon his River, a Country called Capa Howasick. He promised to give me Com, Venison, or what I wanted to feed us: Hatchets and Copper wee should make [presents to] him, and none should disturb us.

That's all he wrote about it in 1608. Summarize the main differences between this, and the 1623 version in our anthology, from the bottom of page 111 through page 112, and state what you see as the role of Pocahontas in this revised story. Also, do Smith's revisions show a change in attitude?
Turning now to Winthrop's sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," begin by looking up the meaning of "charity," and in particular its etymological origin in the Latin noun, caritas. Now, in what specific ways--according to Winthrop--must the colonists practice this Christian caritas?
How does that ideal of caritas relate to the hierarchical vision of society that Winthrop gives in his first paragraph (page 31), which claims it is divinely ordained that "in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others mean and in subjection"? Put another way, why does he hold that hierarchical authority must go hand in hand with charity?
What are the main dangers that Winthrop cautions the colonists to avoid, and what images does he use to represent those dangers?
In a well-developed paragraph or two discuss the ultimate purpose of their "cause," as Winthrop describes it.

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